Finding Love in Unexpected Places
by chocoluvr
Summary: Fic based on The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta This shows what happened to Tim, Ruth and Carrie after the book ended.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own _The Abstinence Teacher

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_A couple of hours later, Tim Mason finally left Ruth Ramsey's house and confronted Pastor Dennis out in his car, which was parked right in front of her house.

"Finally you decide to leave now you can go back home to your wife where you belong, but first you need to pick up your daughter from the soccer game to find out how it went," Pastor Dennis told him.

"I'm going to pick up Abby, and then home to Carrie but only to tell her that I'm through with our farce of a marriage. We're getting divorced, which I'm sure that you'll be glad to hear about since you manipulated me into that marriage and now I'm in love with Ruth," Tim replied angrily to Pastor Dennis.

"You can't just divorce your wife like that, besides God doesn't want anyone to be alone for the rest of their lives, but God doesn't want you to marry a non-Christian like her," Pastor Dennis tried to talk some since into his congregant while pointing to Ruth's house.

"I don't think that God wants you to manipulate his will for him. Besides I've decided that Christianity isn't for me, not if Jesus wants me to be married to a submissive wife, who doesn't disagree with me about anything. Besides do you know that her parents wouldn't even let her move out of her house until she was married and she was 24 years old when you introduced me to her," Tim answered back at his former pastor. "Are you sure that this is what you want? Do you really want to spend eternity in hell?" Pastor Dennis asked.

"Yes, and I don't mind about spending eternity in hell since I was manipulated into marrying a woman I don't love because it's God's will. No that I don't believe in, besides do you know where I was right before I came over here and spent the night with Ruth," Tim answered him, while the pastor looked shocked at his remarks.

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Later on that Saturday afternoon, after making sure that Abby was fine to spend the afternoon with her mother and new husband, so that he could go home and have the talk with his wife that he was dreading for weeks now. When he arrived home, he found his wife sitting on the couch watching television who immediately looked up at him as soon as he came through the door. 

"Where were you, you were gone all night, did you drive over to your ex wife's house and spend the night in your car? It certainly looks like it since your wearing the same clothes that you wore yesterday," Carrie asked him sounding worried about her husband and hoping that he would get over his ex wife.

"I wasn't at Allison's but if you must know I was at Ruth Ramsey's because I had to get some things straightened out in my head. Besides we need to talk about this marriage thing," Tim answered his wife wondering if he was really concerned about his wellbeing or if she just saw him as a ticket out of her parent's house.

"Carrie, its time that we both face the truth about this marriage, the fact is that I don't love you and I never loved you. I felt pressured by Pastor Dennis to ask you out, because I was having an affair with a married woman after I joined the Tabernacle. After meeting your parents I felt pressured to marry you, because I thought that once we were married that I would get over Allison and I didn't. When I met Ruth, I started to have feelings for her even though she wasn't a Christian so now I hardly ever think about Allison anymore. You're only 25 years old you deserve to have someone who loves you than someone who's in love with another woman, so I've come by to let you know that I'm divorcing you and finding another place to live," Tim broke the news of his decision to his wife who looked shocked at the news.

"Don't you even want to try to make this marriage work, imagine what everyone would think after my husband of less than a year would divorce me? What if I'm pregnant, since we didn't even use a condom the last time that we made love and I even lied to you about being on the pill in the hopes that I would get pregnant and the baby would make you want to stay? I should have listened to my parents since they told me that second marriages almost always end in divorce anyway and now I'm going to have to go back to them as a big loser now," Carrie lashed out at her husband.

"I'm sure that they would understand, they took you back after you left home and slept with all of those men, besides you're old enough to live on your own or with a roommate you don't have to live with your parents until you're married in this day and age. I married you even though I felt that this marriage wasn't right at the time. If you're pregnant, then when the child is born I'll provide support payments and would expect visitation rights from you," Tim tried to reason with her.

"If I'm pregnant then I'll just go out and get an abortion," his wife informed him.

"If you do that's your choice and even if no one knows about the pregnancy and you do get an abortion then God will still know about it and you'll have to ask his forgiveness. Besides I'll still help you raise the child even if we're still not married. I hope that one day that you'll realize that you deserve someone where you don't have to manipulate or to have a child with in order to keep him. You're young enough to go back to school, even if it's at community college at night and train for a job that you enjoy, not necessarily working at a job for one of your father's friends. I've also decided to leave the Tabernacle" Tim told her.

"Where will you be going to church then? Wouldn't the praise band miss you, being gone?" Carrie asked her soon to be ex husband.

"I won't be going to church anywhere, I'm not going to follow a God that thinks that everyone should be married and forced me into this marriage. I'm sure that the guys in the band would understand," Tim answered his wife.

"Even if we aren't together you still need to go to church somewhere, what if you go back to drugs and alcohol again," Carrie asked him.

"I won't besides I want to explore my feelings for Ruth and I can't do that if I'm married to you," Tim told Carrie as he was leaving her to go to his room to pack his things leaving Carrie in the living room sobbing over their broken marriage.

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Later on that day he returned to Ruth's house, where she let him stay there until he got back on his feet. He originally stayed in a guest bedroom and eventually moved into her room with her. They started to date shortly after he moved out of the town home that he shared with Carrie. A year later, after his divorce from Carrie was finalized he married Ruth Ramsey in a private ceremony with only their families as witnesses. Tim never used drugs or alcohol again. A year after Tim and Ruth were married, a new church opened up in their town and they both joined it, taking Maggie and Eliza with them, even Abby on mornings that she wanted to go. Ruth became a Christian, though the new church wasn't as strict as the Tabernacle and Tim learned that not all Christians would encourage two people to get married who weren't ready for it like he felt Pastor Dennis did with him and Carrie. Tim also visited weekly with his new daughter and Abby. Carrie was pregnant and had her baby about eight months after Tim left and Tim was true to his word he paid his child support payments to her monthly. He even had visitation rights with the child every weeked. She even found another single mom in the church that she could room and share expenses with. He even paid for her to attend community college and train as a paralegal. She had a daughter that she named Faith which caused her to grow up and not to think that she had to have a husband and child to be happy. She even worked with the youth in the Tabernacle, encourage them to wait until marriage to have sex, but to marry for the right reasons and not make the same mistakes that she did. The school district did discontinue the abstinence only sex ed course two years later, after the teen pregnancy rate in their community skyrocketed. Ruth was asked to return as the Health teacher at that time. Ten years after she divorced Tim, she remarried a man that she met in the law firm where she worked. He loved her for her and she didn't have to manipulate him to get him to marry her or stay. A year after their marriage she did have another child, a son which his half sister would do anything for him.

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**Author's Note**: Please read and review. 


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